Working on all fronts to promote the reintegration of at-risk youth, the FSJU supports the Hadera children’s village of the “Talpiot Community for its children” association. Spotlight on this community unlike any other …
They come from all over the southern region, they are 5, 12 or 15 years old, alone or with siblings. Their young lives are already fraught with secrets, heartbreak and problems that most other children their age don’t know.
Sent by social services, placed by the courts, but always in agreement with their parents who cannot bring them up, abuse them, abuse them or abandon them, these kids will relearn how to live the life that is theirs.
Established in 1952 in Jerusalem, the first Talpiot Children’s Village opened its doors to welcome and help children born during the Holocaust and arriving en masse in Israel.
With the help of expertise, Talpiot opened villages all over Israel and since then has helped straighten the path of young people promised a most precarious future.
In Hadera, each year, 200 children aged 5 to 18 benefit from adapted training and therapy, social and educational support as well as extracurricular activities.
“Two types of structures supervise children depending on the situation” explains Laurence Pons, head of the fundraising Europe branch for 9 years.
“Some children are taken into care right out of school. They are provided with a hot meal, a tutoring course, an extracurricular activity (music, Art therapy, sport etc …) and a last evening meal, then they are escorted home because the social services have judged that the family home of origin was able to receive them. The other children live with professional host families in the village. These children from toxic family cells can thus flourish in structures allowing them to discover a balanced and healthy family life “. A real expertise developed by Talpiot which has earned the association various awards. According to Itsik Gershom, deputy director of Talpiot, “The overall objective of the village is above all to enable the children to return to their original homes under normal conditions. For this, a therapeutic, social and psychological support system is put at the service of the family. Parents are not born with instructions, some do, others need help. This is what we do by emphasizing the link between parents and children. Thanks to the many teams on site and the tailor-made attention given to each family, this link is strengthened and sometimes repaired … “
While Talpiot, a true public utility project, is obviously supported by the Israeli Ministry of Social Affairs, the fact remains that the funds are insufficient. The bulk of the grants go towards food, childcare teams and therapists. The buildings can wait … This is how the structures have become, over time, particularly obsolete, not to mention the furniture …
“The beds on which the children sleep are concrete blocks covered with thin mattresses. Back then this was done, today even in prisons you don’t see it anymore! “Itsik Gershom said.
A situation that did not leave the Social Fund indifferent. “We have decided to finance the renewal of the furniture in the Talpiot children’s village,” explains Myriam Fédida, director of FSJU Israel. When a child evolves and grows in a broken, damaged and old-fashioned environment, he cannot be asked to take care of his room, of himself or of others. For a kid withdrawn from his family, a nice bedroom is a little warmth and hope that is indirectly instilled in him. He can project himself into a better world and that is exactly our mission: to fight exclusion and give hope to those whom life has left behind ”.
